Dance Canvas Uplifts Emerging Choreographers

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) -You’ve probably heard the phrase, “each one, teach one,” and that’s exactly what one Atlanta-based dancer and choreographer is doing to support those following in her footsteps.

CBS46 Anchor Tracye Hutchins caught up Angela Harris while rehearsing for a special performance this weekend.

It is a movement set to music, the passion playing out on stage at Georgia tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts. That passion is set in motion by the Atlanta organization called Dance Canvas.

“We are curating this gallery of dancers but we’re also really focused on the people that create the dance,” says Harris. She is the artistic director of Dance Canvas and founded it 14 years ago in Atlanta because she was an emerging choreographer.

Harris tells CBS46, “I’m a former professional ballet dancer and always had the desire to choreograph but it’s a really hard process as an emerging choreographer to get your work on stage, it’s very expensive, access to professional dancers is hard, and I figured I couldn’t be the only one in that position.”

Harris designed Dance Canvas to uplift up-and-coming choreographers and pave the way to more opportunities for young men and women in professional dance.

Harris says, “There’s so many dance programs within the public school system here in the Atlanta metro area, and just giving them the opportunity to see dancers on stage in their community, I think it opens up the possibilities for them right, they know that this is a career path that they could potentially take if they’re interested.”

Harris tells CBS46, that dance canvas has something for every emerging choreographer, ballet, contemporary and hip hop, all while embracing diversity.

During a Thursday dress rehearsal, more than 100 students from around Metro Atlanta were able to watch the inner working of a Dance Canvas stage performance.

Harris says Dance Canvas is doing what it was designed to do, expose students to performing art.

Harris says, “it’s really nice to put a face behind the artwork that you see on stage.”

Dance Canvas has special performances at the Ferst Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Georgia Tech.

Their 2022 performance series: Introducing the Next Generation, hits the stage on March 25 and on March 26 at 8 p.m.

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